Focus on benefits than features

When you focus on building features after features, you tend to enter the trap of happy-engineering. The features of the offering are important for the customer to understand the product/solution. They are the description of tangible capabilities of the product /solution. Engineers and product managers are the most familiar with its features, not the customers. Many features never get exercised in real use. Some customers study the features for the sake of comparison of similar products/solutions in the market. Customers are more interested in what the product/solution does. To clarify what the product/solution does, the benefits need to be explained.

The benefits of the product/ solution are intangible aspects. Benefits are experiences that the customer values as a result of utilizing the product/ service. A benefit portrays what the customer gets. Clearer benefit converts the interest of customer into an act of purchase. Unless customer understands and appreciates the value of the product in how it matters to him, the sale is not complete.

While building a product, service or business, focus on benefits from the customer point of view than just a long list of features. Validate these benefits and prioritize based on the merit to build, offer and service. This helps in making your product/ service relevant to the market and provides an opportunity to be a significant player.